From Palmyra to Zayton: Epigraphy and Iconography 2503518834, 9782503518831

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FROM PALMYRA TO ZAYTON: EPIGRAPHY AND ICONOGRAPHY

SILK ROAD STUDIES

X

Edited by an international committee G. GNOLI (Roma [I)) S KLJASHTORNYJ (Sankt Pecerburg [CIS]) S.N.C. L!EU (Sydney [AUS]) B.A. L!TVINSKY (Moskva [CIS]) R. MESERVE (Bloomington (IN) [USA]) G. PINAULT (Paris [F])

A. SARKÖZI (Budapest [H]) N. SIMS-WILLIAMS (Cambridge & London [GB]) A. VAN TONGERLOO (Leuven [B]), Editor-in-chief S. WHITFIELD (London [GB]), Director of the Dunhuang Monograph Series P. ZIEME (Berlin [BRD])

SILK ROAD STUDIES X

From Palmyra to Zayton: Epigraphy and Iconography Edited by

Iain Gardner, Samuel Lieu and Ken Parry

BREPOLS

ANCIENT HISTORY DOCUMENT ARY RESEARCH CENTRE MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY NSW AUSTRALIA

© 2005, Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2005/0095/94 ISBN 2-503-51883-4 Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IV

ABBREVIATIONS

VI

PART 1: PALMYRA § 1 SAMUEL N.C. LIED

Palmyra: A Caravan City and its Inscriptions

1

§2 GREG Fox, SAM LIEU & NORMAN RICKLEFS Select Palmyrene Inscriptions

27

§3 GREG Fox & SAM LIED Analytical Indices to Select Palmyrene Inscriptions

127

PART 2: ZA YTON (QUANZHOU) §4 SAMUEL N.C. LIEU

Christian and Manichaean Remains from Zayton: An Introduction and Update

189

§5 LANCE ECCLES

A Summary Administrative History of Quanzhou

207

§6 IAIN GARDNER

The Medieval Christian Remains from Zayton: A Select Catalogue

215

§7 KEN PARRY

The Iconography of the Christian Tombstones from Zayton

229

§8 LANCE ECCLES, MAJELLA FRANZMANN &SAM LIEU

Observations an Select Christian Inscriptions in the Syriac Scriptfrom Zayton

247

FROMPALMYRA TO ZAYTON: EPIGRAPHY AND ICONOGRAPHY INTRODUCTION

The bi-annual conference of the Australian Society for Inner Asian Studies - the proceedings of which have thrice been published in Silk Road Studies (II, IV and VI) - was unable to take place as scheduled in 2002 because of the departure of the Executi ve President of the Society, Associate Professor David Christian, for a senior academic position at the State University of California at San Diego. Plans for a meeting in 2003 were seriously disrupted by the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region and by the departure of Dr Craig Benjamin for an academic appointment at the State University of Michigan at Grand Rapids. To these two pioneering scholars of the history of Inner Asia in Australia, we are all heavily indebted. However, major research on the Silk Road carried on unabated at the Manichaean Documentation Centre (a section of the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre) which hosts the Society at Macquarie University. The studies in this volume are the work of two research teams both working under the direction of Professor Sam Lieu, Co-Director of the Centre. The first of the two teams consisting of Professor Lieu assisted by Dr Norman Ricklefs, and the Rev Greg Fox (and in its early stages by Dr Trevor Evans), aims to produce a comprehensive polylingual collection of inscriptions from the Roman provinces which had been geographically important in commercial and cultural contacts with Central Asia, India and China. The team began working on inscriptions from Palmyra and from Dura Europos (both in the modern Republic of Syria), as both cities are important to the study of trade routes between the Roman and Parthian Empires. lt was undoubtedly through trading cities such as Palmyra in Syria and Edessa and Nisibis in Mesopotamia that the Roman Empire imported its silk and other exotics from the Orient. The present volume contains a selection of texts translated by members of the team together with a much needed analytical concordance to the selected texts. The selection of texts is intended to exemplify the cultural diversity of Palmyra - hence it contains texts in Palmyrene Aramaic, Greek and Latin as weil as Hebrew. To the

11

Introduction

best of our knowledge no such collection exists in the English language. The team hopes to produce in future a re-edition of the inscriptions from the French excavations at Dura Europos first published by Franz Cumont (1926) and R. du Mesnil du Buisson (1939). Work on the epigraphy of Palmyra - undoubtedly the most famous of the 'Caravan Cities' of the Roman East - has certainly helped the team prepare for its planned work on Dura Europos. The second project 'show-cased' in this volume is an important multi-institutional research project on the Manichaean and Christian (both 'Nestorian' and Catholic) remains at the river-port-city of Quanzhou (medieval Zayton) in the province of Fujian in China. The city was the most significant point of entry for foreign goods and ideas into south China from the late Tang to the Ming period. lt was particularly important during the Mongol phase of Chinese history and it was from Zayton that Marco Polo finally left China c. 1292. His fellow Italian visitors to China, the Franciscans under John of Montecorvino, first entered the Middle Kingdom via Zayton and inaugurated the first phase of Catholic mission in China. Less weil known to westem scholars is the 'Nestorian' community in Zayton which had come from Central Asia in the wake of the victorious Mongol armies. The sepulchral monuments of this community with their exquisite mixture of Christian motifs and oriental artistic expressions are unique and deserve to be better known among Art Historians and scholars in the Study of Religions. The Australian team consists of Professor Sam Lieu (Macquarie ), Professor Majella Franzmann (University of New England at Armidale ), Dr Lance Eccles (Macquarie ), Associate Professor Iain Gardner (Sydney) and Dr Ken Parry (Project Research Officer, Macquarie). The team has made several visits to Quanzhou since 2000 and its members are extremely grateful to the generous hospitality and unstinting co-operation of Mr Wang Lianmao, the Director of the Quanzhou Maritime Museum. We would also like to thank his deputy Mr Guo Yusheng for granting us permission to publish the material contained in Plates 3-26 of this volume which consists mainly of items currently on display in the Quanzhou Maritime Museum. For the epigraphist, work on the Aramaic inscriptions from Palmyra and the Syro-Turkic 'Nestorian' inscriptions from Quanzhou is not without fascinating parallels. Both texts employed a

Introduction

111

Sernitic script; both used the Seleucid calendar as its principal means of dating. As sepulchral inscriptions dominate both corpora, the typical Semitic word qbr (tomb) is frequently encountered in both sets of texts, although the two are separated by almost a millennium in time and the entire continent of Asia in space. We therefore believe that the combination of research on these two cities Palmyra and Zayton - both of which played a major role in the contact between Europe and Asia by land and sea in Antiquity and the Middle Ages is appropriate. As 'Silk Roadologists', to use a phrase coined by Japanese research colleagues, we are by definition interested in the cultural and religious history of Silk Road cities, both East and West, terrestrial and maritime. Research for both of these projects would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the Australian Research Council, the Chiang Ching Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange and the Research Office of Macquarie University. To the research fellows and administrative staff of the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre at Macquarie University not involved in our projects, we offer no apology for the disruption to the tranquil Centre's research life caused by the need for frequent project team meetings which often required the setting up of slide-projectors and various other equipment needed for epigraphical studies. However, their good humoured co-operation is always treasured and never taken for granted. To Ms Beth Lewis who has helped to prepare camera-ready manuscripts of three earlier volumes of Silk Road Studies we are grateful for much technical advice and effort in the preparation of this latest volume in the series. Professor Sam Lieu Co-Director, Ancient History Documentary Research Centre Macquarie University

ACKNOWL EDGMENTS The editors of and contributors to this volume would like to thank Professor Glen Bowersock (Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies) for his personal permission to reproduce the edition of the Greek inscription found at Qa~r el Beir East and published in Chiron, 6 (1976) 350. To the editor of Aram Periodical, Dr Shafiq AbouZayd, (The Oriental Institute, Oxford) we would like express our gratitude for permission to reproduce the text and translation by the late Professor Han Drijvers on p.111 of the fifth vol ume of the joumal (Palmyra) which appeared in 1995. To Oxford University Press we are grateful for agreeing to publish by arrangement the edition and translation by the same scholar of a bilingual inscription from Palmyra first published in M.J. Geller, J.C. Greenfield and M.P. Weitzman (eds) Studia Aramaica, Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Manchester 1995) 34-36. To Johns Hopkins University Press we are thankful for similar arrangement for the republication of the Aramaic and Greek texts as well as the status and locational details of the following inscriptions from D.R. Hillers and E. Cussini (eds) Palmyrene Aramaic Texts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 1996): 0010 (p.25), 0067 (p.33), 0095 (pp.36-37), 0197 (p.49), 0246 (p.54), 0248 (p.55), 0259 (pp.57-63), 0261 (p.63), 0268 (p.64), 0269 (p.64), 0270 (pp.64-65), 0271 (p.65), 0273 (p.65), 0274 (p.65), 0276 (p.66), 0277 (p.66), 0278 (p.66), 0279 (pp.66-67), 0280 (p.67), 0282 (p.67), 0283 (p.67), 0284 (p.68), 0285 (p.68), 0286 (p.68), 0288 (p.69), 0290 (p.69), 0291 (p.69), 0292 (p.70), 0293 (p.70), 0294 (p.70), 0295 (p.70), 0298 (p.71), 0300 (p.71), 0301(pp.71-7 2),0302 (p.72), 0305 (p.72), 0317 (p.74), 0319 (p.75), 0324 (p.75), 0326 (p.76), 0327 (p.76), 0329 (p.76), 0342 (p.78), 0345 (p.78), 0393 (p.85), 0457 (p.92), 0482 (p.96), 0551 (p.104), 0555 (p.105), 0558 (pp.105-6), 0574 (p.108), 1062 (p.168), 1063 (pp.168-69), 1122 (p.175), 1347 (p.198), 1351 (p.199), 1352 (p.199), 1366 (p.201), 1373 (p.202), 1374 (p.202), 1376 (p.202), 1378 (p.203), 1397 (p.205), 1411 (p.207), 1412 (p.207), 1413 (pp.207-08), 1414 (p.208), 1415 (p.208), 1421 (p.209), 1584 (p.228), 1624 (p.233), 1816 (p.256), 1919 (p.271), 2636 (p.304), 2753 (p.320), 2763 (pp.320-21), 2801

Acknowledgements

V

(pp.326-7), 2815 (p.328). Our debt to this last volume is enormous and our only wish is that the translations we have provided will make this important collection more user-friendly for historians and archaeologists. To Peter Edwell my colleague and fellow researcher on Palmyra, we are grateful for his making an early morning visit to the Grand Colonnade during our last stay in Syria to take the digital photographs which now appear with his permission as Plates 1-2 in this volume. To Mr Guo Yusheng of the Quanzhou Maritime Museum, we would like to reiterate our thanks for the signed permission to reproduce all the artefacts from the Museum contained in Plates 3-22. To Mrs Michelle Wilson, one of the official photographers of Macquarie University, we owe a massive debt for her technical skills in taking the digital photographs for Plates 3-26 during the team's visit to Quanzhou.

ABBREVI A TIONS

MS Anna/es archeologiques ( arabes) syriennes. Adams = J.N. Adams, Bilingualis m and the Latin Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2003). AJO Archiv für Orientforschung. Aram Aram Periodical (Leuven: Peeters 1989ff.). Ber. Berytus. Archaeological Studies published by the Museum of Archaeolo gy of the American University of Beirut (Copenhag en and Beirut: Einar Munksgar rd and the American University at Beirut 1934ff.). Bounni (1961) A. Bounni, 'Inscriptions palmyrenie nnes inedites. 1. Inscriptions de l'hypogee de Salamallät , Vallee des Tombeaux , Palmyre' MS 11-12 (1961-62) 145-62. Bounni (2004) A. Bounni, Le sanctuaire de Naba aPalmyre, Bibliotheq ue archeologiq ue et historique, T. 131 and 132 (Beirut: IFAPO 2004). Bowersock (1976) G. Bowersock , 'A new Antonine inscription from the Syrian desert' Chiron 6, 349-55. Brack and Taylor (2001) S.P. Brack and D.G.K. Taylor, The Hidden Pearl - The Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, vol. 1 (Rome: Trans World Films). BS III See Dunant (1971). Buttrey (1961) T. Buttrey, "'Old Aurei" at Palmyra and the coinage of Pescennius Niger' Berytus 14 (1961-63) 117-28. C See CIS. Cantineau ( 1930) J. Cantineau, 'Inscriptions palmyrenie nnes' Revue d'assyriologie 27, 27-51. Cantineau (1933) J. Cantineau, 'Tadmorea' Syria 18, 169-202. Cantineau (1936) J. Cantineau, 'Tadmorea (suite) (l)' Syria 17, 267-82. Cantineau (1938) J. Cantineau, 'Tadmorea (suite)' Syria 19, 72-82 and 153-71. CBRL Council for British Research in the Levant. Chabot = J. Chabot, Choix d'inscriptions de Palmyre (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale 1922).

Abbreviations

vii

Chehab (1962) M. Chehab, 'Tyr a l'epoque romaine - Aspects de la cite a la lumiere des textes et des fouilles' MUSJ 38, 13-40. Chiron Chiron. Mitteilungen der Kommission für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik des deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (Munich: C.H. Deck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung 1971ff.). CIJ Corpus Inscriptionum Judaicarum, Recueil des inscriptions juives qui vont du IIIe siecle avant Jesus-Christ au Vlle siecle de notre ere, R.P. Jean-Baptise Frey (eds), 2 vols (Roma: Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana 1938-1952). CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin 1863ff.). CIS Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Pars secunda. Tomus III: Inscriptiones palmyrenae, Jean-Baptiste Chabot et al. (eds) (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale 1926). Cl. Sir Gerald Clauson (ed.), An Etymological Dictionary of PreThirteenth-Century Turkish (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press 1972). Cooke = G.A. Cooke, A Text-Book of North Semitic Inscriptions (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press 1903). CRAI Comptes rendus des Seances de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (Paris 1858ff.). Cussini (1995) E. Cussini, 'Transfer of Property at Palmyra' Aram 7/1, 24041. Davis and Stuckenbruck (1992) M.T. Davis and L.T. Stuckenbruck, 'Notes on translation phenomena in the Palmyrene bilinguals' in Z. Kapern (ed.), Intertestamental Essays in Honour of Josef Tadeusz Milik, Qumranica Mogilanensia 6 (Krakow: Enigma 1992) 265-83. Ded. = J.T. Milik, Dedicacesfaites par des dieux (Palmyra, Hatra, Tyr et des thiases semitiques a l'epoque romaine (Paris: Geuthner 1972). Dijkstra = K. Dijkstra, Life and Loyalty. A Study in the SocioReligious Interaction in Roman Syria (Leiden: Brill 1995). Dirven = L. Dirven, The Palmyrenes of Dura Europos, A Study of Religious Interaction in Roman Syria (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World vol. 138, Leiden: Brill 1999). Dodgeon-Lieu = M.H. Dodgeon and S.N.C. Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD 226-363, (London: Routledge 1991, revised paperback edn. 1994). Dri '82 See Drijvers (1982). Drij vers ( 1977) H.J.W. Drijvers, 'Hatra, Palmyra und Edessa. Die Städte der syrisch-mesopotamischen Wüste in politischer, kultur-

VIII

Abbreviations

geschichtli cher und religionsge schichtlich er Beleuchtun g' in H. Temporini and W. Baase (eds) Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt 8 (Berlin: W. de Gruyter197 7) 799-906. Drijvers (1982) H.J.W. Drijvers, 'Sanctuarie s and social safety. The iconography of divine peace in Hellenistic Syria' in Visible Religion 1(1982)65 -75. Drijvers (1995a) H.J.W. Drijvers, 'Inscriptions from Allät's sanctuary' Aram 7, 109-19. Drijvers (1995b) H.J.W. Drijvers, 'Greek and Aramaic in Palmyrene Inscriptions' in M.J. Geller, J.C. Greenfield and M.P. Weitzman (eds) Studia Aramaica, JSS Suppl. 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Mancheste r 1995) 31-42. Dunant (1971) C. Dunnant, Le sanctuaire de Baalshamin a Palmyre III, Les inscriptions (Rome: Institut suisse de Rome). Ecke and Demieville (1935) G. Ecke and P. Demieville , The Twin Pagodas ofZayton A Study of Later Buddhist Sculpture in China, (HarvardYenching Institute Monograph Series 2, Cambridge, MA). Eilers (1952-53) W. Eilers, 'Eine Büste mit Inschrift aus Palmyra' AfO 16, 311-15. Poster= J. Poster, 'Crosses from the walls of Zaitun' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S. (1954) 17-20. Gaw See Gawlikowski. Gawlikowski (1973) M. Gawlikows ki, 'Liturgies et custodes sur quelques inscriptions palmyreniennes' Semitica 23, 113-24. Gawlikowski (1976) M. Gawlikows ki, 'Allat et Belshamin' in Melanges d'histoire ancienne et d'archeologie offerts a Paul Collart, P. Ducrey et al. (eds) (Cahiers d'archeolog ie romaine, Lausanne: Bibliotheque historique vaudoise 1976). Gawlikowski (1983) M. Gawlikowski, 'Reflexions sur la chronologie du sanctuaire d'Allat aPalmyre' Damaszener Mitteilungen l, 59-67. Gawlikowski (1985) M. Gawlikowski, 'Les princes de Palmyre' Syria 52, 251-61. Gawlikowski (1994) M. Gawlikowski, 'Palmyra as a trading centre' Iraq 56, 27-33.

Abbreviations

ix

Gawlikowski and al-As'ad (1993). M. Gawlikowski and K. al-As'ad, 'Le peage a Palmyre en 11 apres J.-C.' Semitica 41-42, 163-72. Grabar (1978) 0. Grabar et al. (eds) City in the Desert - Qasr al-Hayr East (Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs 23-24, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press). Hackl = U. Hackl, H. Jenni and C. Schneider, Quellen zur Geschichte der Nabatäer, Textsammlung mit Übersetzung und Kommentar, Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus 10 (Freiburg and Göttingen: Vandenhoek und Ruprecht 2003). H.-J. = J. Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling, Dictionary of the NorthWest Semitic Inscriptions 2 vols (Leiden: Brill 1995). Hartmann = U. Hartmann, Das palmyrenische Teilrieich, Oriens et Occidens 2 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2001). al-Hassani and Starcky (1957) D. al-Hassani and J. Starcky, 'Autels palmyreniens decouverts pres de la source Efca (suite)' AAAS 7, 95-122. Houston (1990) G.W. Houston, 'The altar from Rome with inscriptions to Sol and Malakbel' Syria 67, 189-93. HNE M. Lidzbarski, Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik (Weimar: Felber 1898). Hvidberg-Hansen (1998) F.O. Hvidberg-Hansen, The Palmyrene Inscriptions Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (Copenhagen: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek). IFAPO Institut franc;ais d'archeologie du Proche-Orient. IGRR Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, R. Cagnat and G. Lafaye (eds) (Paris: Ernest Leroux Editeur 1906-1927). IJO iii D. Noy and H. Bloedhorn (eds), /nscriptiones Judaicae Orientis III, Syria and Cyprus (Tübingen: Mohr 2004). ILS H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 3 vols (Berlin: apud Weidmanos 1892-1916). IMP M. Gawlikowski and K. Al As'ad, The Inscriptions in the Palmyra Museum - A Catalogue (Palmyra and Warsaw: The Committee for Scientific Research 1997). Ingholt (1938) H. Ingholt, 'Inscriptions and Sculptures from Palmyra II' Berytus 2, 93-140. Ingholt (1962) H. Ingholt, 'Palmyrene Inscription from the Tomb of Malku' MUSJ 38, 99-119.

X

Abbreviations

Ingholt (1976) H. Ingholt, 'Varia Tadmoria' in Palmyre, Bilan et perspectives (Strasbourg: AECR) 101-37. Inv. Inventaire des inscriptions de Palmyre (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1930-65 and Damascus: Publications de Ja Direction Generale des Antiquites et Musees de Ja Republique Arabe Syrienne 1975). IP Khaled As 'ad and Jean-Baptiste Yon avec la collaboration de Thibaud Fournet (eds), Inscriptions de Palmyre, Promenades epigraphiques dans la ville antique de Palmyre, Guides archeologiques de l'IFAPO 3 (eds) (BeirutDamascus-Amman: IFAPO 2001). IP (Cantineau) See Cantineau (1930). JSS Journal of Semitic Studies. Kaizer ( 1997) T. Kaizer, 'De dea Syria et aliis diis deabusque (Part l)' Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 28 (1997) 147-66. Kaizer (2002) T. Kaizer, The Religious Life of Palmyra, Oriens et Occidens 4 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag). Klein= W. Klein, Das nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan bis zum 14.Jh, Silk Raad Studies III (Turnhaut: Brepols 2000). Kowalski = S. Kowalski, 'Late Roman Palmyra in Literature and Epigraphy' Studia Palmyreriskie 10 (Warsaw 1997) 39-62. Le Bas-Waddington = W. H. Waddington, Inscriptions grecques et latines recueillies en Grece et en Asie Mineure, VI Syrie (Paris 1870). Littmann = E. Littmann, Semitic Inscriptions, Part IV of the Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1899-1900 (New York: The Century Co. 1905). Lou J. Dentzer-Feydy and J. Teixidor (eds) Les antiquites de Palmyre au Musee du Louvre, Musee du Louvre, Departement des antiquites orientales (Paris: Reunion des Musees du Louvre 1993). LSJ H.G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1968). Maraqten (1995) M. Maraqten, 'The Arabic words in Palmyrene inscriptions' Aram 711, 89-108. Matthews = J.F. Matthews, 'The Tax Law of Palmyra' Journal of Roman Studies 74 (1984) 157-80.

Abbreviations

xi

M. Gawlikowski, Monuments funeraires de Palmyre, Travaux du Centre d'archeologie mediterraneenne de l'Acadernie Polonaise des Sciences (Warsaw: Paristwowe Wydawriictwo Naukowe 1970). Miliar (1995) F.B.G. Miliar, 'Latin Epigraphy of the Roman Near East' in H. Solin, 0. Salomies and U-M Liertz (eds) Acta Colloquii Epigraphici Latini, Helsingiae 3.-6. sept. 1991 habiti, Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 104, (Helsinki 1995), 403-19. Mittwoch (1902) E. Mittwoch, 'Hebräische Inschriften aus Palmyra' Beiträge zur Assyriologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft 412, 203-06. Moule = A.C. Moule, Christians in China before the Year 1550 (London: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowedge 1930). Mouterde (1931) R. Mouterde and A. Poidebard, 'La voie antique des caravanes entre Palmyre et Hit du ne siecle ap. J.-C. d'apres une inscription retrouvee au S.-E. de Palmyre (Mars 1930)' Syria 12, 101-15. MUSJ Melanges de l'Universite Saint-Joseph (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique l 906ff.). OGIS Orientis Graeci lnscriptiones Selectae, 2 vols (Leipzig 1903, reprinted Hilersheim: Olms 1970). , Pantheon J. Teixidor, The Pantheon of Palmyra, Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain (Leiden: Brill 1979). Parca M. Parca, 'Local languages and native cultures' in J. Bode! (ed.) Epigraphic Evidence - Ancient History from Inscriptions (London: Routledge) 57-72. PAT D.R. Hillers and E. Cussini (eds) Palmyrene Aramaic Texts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 1996). PIR Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saeculi !, II, III, 2nd ed. by E. Groag and A. Stein (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 1933ff.) Potter = D.S. Potter, Prophecy and History in the Crisis of the Roman Empire - A Historical Commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1990). Prentice = W.K. Prentice, Greek and Latin inscriptions, Part III of the Publications of an American Archaeological Expedition to Syria 1899-1900 (New York: The Century Co. 1908). MF

xii

Abbreviations

Pros. P. Piersimoni, The Palmyrene Prosopography, 2 vols (PhD Diss., London: University College London 1995). RCL Wang Lianmao et al. (eds) Return to the City of Light (Fuzhou: Fujian People's Publishing House 2000). RES Repertoire d' epigraphie semitique, Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Commission du Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum (Paris: E Reipublicae Typograph o / Imprimerie Nationale 1900ff.) RIB The Roman Inscriptions of Britain, eds R.G. Collingwo od and R.P. Wright (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1965) Rodinson (1950) M. Rodinson, 'Une Inscription trilingue de Palmyre' Syria 50, 137-42. RosAH F. Rosenthal, An Aramaic Handbook, Pt. I/1 and I/2, Porta Linguarum Orientalium (Wiesbade n: Otto Harrassow itz 1967) RSP M. Gawlikowski (ed.), Recueil d'inscriptions palmyreniennes provenant de fouilles syriennes et polonaises recentes a Palmyre (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale 1974). RTP H. Ingholt, H. Seyrig and J. Starcky (eds), Recueil des tesseres de Palmyre (Paris: Geuthner 1955). Schlumberger (1939) D. Schlumber ger, 'Bornes frontieres de Ja Palmyrene' Syria 20, 43-73. Schuol = M. Schuol, Die Charakene, Ein Mesopotamisches Königreich in hellenistisch-parthischen Zeit, Oriens et Occidens 1 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2000). SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum Seyrig (1936) H. Seyrig, 'Inscription relative au commerce maritime de Palmyre' in Melanges Franz Cumont =Annuaire de !'Institut de philologie et d'histoire 4 vols (Brussels: Secretariat de l'Instituit) 397-402. Seyrig (1937) H. Seyrig, 'Deux inscriptions grecques de Palmyre' Syria 18, 369-78. Seyrig (1941) . H. Seyrig, 'Inscriptions grecques de l'agora de Palmyre' Syrza 22, 223-70. Seyrig ( 1963) H. Seyrig, 'Les fils du roi Odainat' AAAS 13, 159-72. . . SHA Scriptores Historiae Augustae 2 vols, E. Hohl (ed.), (Le1pz1g: Teubner 1960-71).

Abbreviations

Xlll

Standaert = N. Standaert (ed.) Handbook of Christianity in China vol. 1 (635-1800) (Leiden: Brill 2001). Stark = J. Stark, Personal Names in Palmyrene Inscriptions (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1971). Syr. Syria, Revue d'Art Oriental et d'Archeologie (Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner and Damascus: Institut Frarn;:ais d'archeologie du Proche Orient 1920ff.). Taylor= D.G.K. Taylor, 'An annotated Index of Dated Palmyrene Aramaic Texts' Journal of Semitic Studies 4612, (2001) 20319. Taylor (2002) D.G.K. Taylor, 'Bilingualism and Diglossia in Late Antique Syria and Mesopotamia' in J.N. Adams, M. Janse and S.C.R. Swain (eds), Bilingualism in Ancient Society: Language Contact and the Written Word (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 298-331. Teixidor (1984) J. Teixidor, 'Un port romain du desert: Palmyre et son commerce d'Auguste aCaracalla' Semitica 34, 3-127. Third Season = P.V.C. Baur, M.I. Rostovtzeff and A.R. Bellinger (eds), The Excavations at Dura-Europas, Preliminary Report of the Third Season of Work, Nov. 1929 - March 1930 (New Haven: Yale University Press 1932). Trendall (1942) D. Trendall. The Shellal Mosaic and Other Classical Antiquities in the Australian War Museum in Canberra (Canberra: Australian War Memorial). Trf The Tariff of Palmyra = PAT0259 = C3913. Vogüe = Le Comte de Vogüe, Syrie centrale, lnscriptions semitiques (Paris: J. Baudry 1868-77). Wu = Wu Wenliang, Quanzhou zongjiao shike (Religious Stone lnscriptions at Quanzhou) (Beijing: Kexue chuban she 1957). Wu Yuxiong = Wu Yuxiong, 'Fujian Quanzhou faxian di Yelikewen (Qingjiao) bei (On the Nestorian tombstone discovered in Quanzhou, Fujian)' Kaogu 1988/xi, 1015-1020, 2 pls. Yon = J.-B. Yon, Les notables de Palmyre, Bibliotheque archeologique et historique 163 (Beirut: IFAPO 2002). Young = G.K. Young, Rome's Eastern Trade - International Commerce and Imperial Policy, 31 BC - AD 305 (London: Routledge 2001).

-PALMYRAA CARAVAN CITY AND ITS INSCRIPTIONS A HISTORY OF PUB LI CA TIONS SAMUEL N.C. LrnuI

The city of Palmyra (ancient and modern Tadmor) in the Syrian desert has long been a source of fascination for the traveller and the scholar alike. Its extensive remains were noted by a 'Western' visitor as early as the twelfth century: the Jewish Rabbi and traveller Benjamin of Tudela in Spain:2 At Tarmod (Tadmor) in the wilderness which Solornon built, there are similar structures of huge stones (Temple of Bel?). The city of Tarmod is surrounded by walls; it is in the desert far away frorn inhabited places, and is four days' journey frorn Baalath, just mentioned. And in Tarrnod there are about 2,000 Jews. They are valiant in war and fight with the Christians and with the Arabs, which latter are under the dominion of Nur-ed-din the king, and they help their neighbours the Ishmaelites. At their head are R. Isaac Hajvani, R. Nathan, and R. Uziel.

The 'Tarmod in the wilderness' mentioned by Benjamin refers to the claim in the Hebrew Bible (2 Chronicles 8:1-6) that a city known as 'Tadmor in the Desert' was built by Solomon, but this is most likely tobe a confusion originally with another site - 'Tadmar in the Desert' 1 The author would like to thank Macquarie University and the Australian Research Council for financial aid, especially through the latter's International Exchange Research Scholar (IREX) scherne, which enabled him to consult the excellent collection of works on Palmyrene epigraphy at the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University. The election of the author to a salaried Visiting Professorship by the Leverhulrne Trust (2000-2001) to the School also greatly facilitated his access to this valuable collection. He would like to thank also rnernbers of his Silk Road studies research tearn in the Ancient History Docurnentary Research Centre at Macquarie University for their corporate effort in studying the selection of inscriptions presented in this volurne. He and his colleagues Norrnan Ricklefs and Peter Edwell are also grateful to Professor Khaled Al-As'ad and Professor Michal Gawlikowski for taking time to discuss research rnatters with the Australian team during their visit to Palrnyra in 2001 and for perrnission to view Tombs A and C of the S-E Necropolis. 2 The ltinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, trans M.N. Adler (Oxford 1907) 31. The work was written in Hebrew and apparently completed in Castile in 1173, but it was not published in Constantinople until 1543.

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by the Dead Sea (1 Kings 9: 17). By the Hellenistic period the city of Tadmor (Palmyra) was so famous that the identification of Solomon with the oasis city became uniformly accepted. Josephus (Ant. lud. VIII, 6, 1 [153-54]), for instance, explained that Solomon founded Tadmor in that part of Upper Syria because 'further down there was no water anywhere in the land and that only in this place were springs and wells tobe found'. The ancient city of Tadmor was noted as a centre of commerce long before the Graeco-Roma n period. Assyrian merchants went there as early as 2000 BC; and caravans with diplomatic status passed through it in Old Babylonian times, their activities being recorded in the texts written at Mari on the Middle Euphrates. In the Late Bronze Age, a tablet from Emar records contact with Tadmer (sie) by naming three Palmyrenes and bearing the seal of one of them (14-13 Century BC).3 According to the Assyrian Chronicle about 1100 BC, the Assyrian King Tiglathpileste r 1 organised a military expedition against the Syrian hinterland. His achievements are described in the following manner: Twenty-eight times (I fought) the Ahlamu peoples and the Arameans, (once) I even crossed the Euphrates twice in one year. I defeated them from Tadmar (Palmyra) which (lies) in the country Amurru, Ana which (lies) in the country Suhu (island of Ana on the Euphrates?), as far as the town Rapiqu which (lies) in Kar-Duniash (i.e. Babylonia). I brought their possessions as spoils to my town Ashur.4

Like so many ancient cities in the Near East, Palmyra came under the orbit first of the Achaemenid Persians and then of the Seleucid Empire after the death of Alexander the Great. The mention of a contingent of ten thousand commanded by a certain Zedibelus at the Battle of Rhaphaia in 217 BC5 between the Seleucid king Antiochus and his rival Ptolemy strongly hints at Palmyrene involvement, for Zabdibel (which means 'gift of Bel') is a very common name found on Palmyrene inscriptions but rarely occurs elsewhere. One of the 3 See material collected in S. Dalley, 'Bel at Palmyra and elsewhere in the Parthian period', in Palmyra and the Aramaeans (= Aram Periodical 7, Leuven 1995) 139. 4 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. J.B. Pritchard, 2nd edn (Princeton 1955) 275. 5 Polybius, Hist. V,70,8.

Samuel N.C. Lieu

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most interesting references to the city in the Late Republican period is from the history of the Civil Wars by Appian of Alexandria. He also tells us of the triumvir Mark Antony's attempt to seize the city in 41 BC:6 When Cleopatra returned home Antony sent a cavalry force to Palmyra, situated not far from the Euphrates, to plunder it, bringing the trifling accusation against its inhabitants, that being on the frontier between the Romans and the Parthians, they had avoided taking sides between them; for, being merchants, they bring the products of India and Arabia from Persia and dispose of them in the Roman territory; but in fact, Antony's intention was to enrich his horsemen. However, the Palmyrenes were forewarned and they transported their property across the river, and, stationing themselves on the bank, prepared to shoot anybody who should attack them, for they are expert bowmen. The cavalry found nothing in the city. They turned round and came back, having met no foe, and empty-handed.

This brief account of a military encounter between Rome and Palmyra is highly informative. We leam that the city was a major centre of commerce in the period after the defeat of Crassus; and that the city was clearly not defended as the merchants moved their caravans east of the Euphrates the moment they received information of the approach of the Roman army. The city came within the orbit of the expanding Roman Empire with the creation of the Roman province of Syria in 63/64 BC. lt was certainly incorporated into the Empire under Tiberius and might have even been as early as the time of Augustus.7 By the time of Pliny the Eider, the city had assumed its famous role as the principal entrep6t between Rome and Parthia: Palmyra is a city famous for the beauty of its site, the riches of its soil, and the delicious quality and abundance of its water. Its fields are surrounded by sands on every side, and are thus separated, as it were, by nature from the rest of the world. Though placed between the two great Empires of Rome and Parthia, it still maintains its independence; never failing, at the very first moment that a rupture between them is threatened, to attract the careful attention of both. lt is distant 337 miles

6 Appian, Bell. Civ., V,9, trans. White (Loeb iv) 391. 7 On this see esp. F.G.B. Miliar, The Roman Near East, 31 BC-A.D.337, (Cambridge MA 1993) 34-35.

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from Seleucia of the Parthians, generally known as Seleucia on the Tigris, 203 from the nearest part of the Syrian coast, and twenty-seven less from Damascus.8

Under the Early Empire, Palmyra was one of the most important cities of the maritime Silk Raad (mainly by land and river to Charax Spasinou)9 and was socially dominated by a mercantile class which enjoyed wealth and prestige not attained elsewhere in both empires. The centre of the commercial life of the city was its Agora, which was adorned from the second century onwards by a large number of statues of caravan leaders, dedicated by their grateful co-travellers. The Grand Colonnade itself, the main thoroughfare of the city, was not paved; and it is commonly thought that the caravans of camels and donkeys (both of which preferred sand) could more comfortably travel to the custom-house in the vicinity of the Agora for the merchants to pay the stated tariffs on the goods which they were importing or exporting.10 In the third century AD Palmyra had reached such a state of wealth and power that, under the rule of her prince Odaenathus, it rescued the Roman East from devastating incursions by a resurgent Persian Empire. Under the rule of his equally redoubtable wife Zenobia, the city briefly became the capital of an Empire which stretched from the banks of the Nile to the Orontes in Syria. Zenobia's exploits became widely known to the European reading public through Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (publ. 1776); which incidentally was the first major publication to draw attention to the pioneering work of the famous astronomer Edmund Halley (1656-1742) on the history of the city and its inscriptions published as early as 1698. 11 8 Rist. Nat. V, 21 (Bohn). 9 See esp. the excellent and up-to-date survey study by U. Hübner, 'Palästina, Syrien und die Seidenstraße', in idem et al. (eds) Die Seidenstraße, Asien und Afrika Bd. 3 (Hamburg 2001) 75-129, esp. 94-108. 10 P. Richardson, City and Sanctuary - Religion and Architecture in the Roman Near East (London 2002) 31. Such a romantic view, however, is now generally abandoned. See T. Kaizer, The Religious Life of Palmyra (Stuttgart 2002) 42 and G.K. Young, Rome's Eastern Trade (London 2001) 168-69. 11 E. Halley, 'Some account of the Ancient State of the City of Palmyra, with short Remarks upon the inscriptions found there', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 19, no. 218 (Nov.-Dec. 1698) 160-75.

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The study of Palmyrene Inscriptions from Halifax (1698) to Barthelemy (1754) Halley had never visited Palmyra personally, but he drew on material published in an earlier issue of the same leamed joumal by the Reverend William Halifax (1655?-1722).12 Although the ruins of Palmyra were first (re-)discovered early in the seventeenth century by the ltalian traveller Pietro della Valle (1616-25) andin 1630 by Jean Baptiste Tavemier, the first substantial effort to record specimens of the hundreds of inscriptions either in situ or littering the site was not made until the arrival in 1678 at Palmyra of a group of English merchants from Aleppo. They were promptly thrown into prison by the local Bedouins who demanded ransom for releasing them alive. Thirteen years later, the same merchants came to Palmyra with the Rev. William Halifax and it was he who was the first to copy one of the Palmyrene inscriptions in a then undeciphered script, as well as a dozen or so inscriptions in Greek and one in Latin. The presence of a local language in the city's monumental and private inscriptions did not come as a surprise given the location of the city on the Syrian frontier and the semi-independent status which it enjoyed under Roman rule. That the Palmyrenes had a special Semitic script of their own which is linked to that of Syriac was already noted in Late Antiquity by the heresiologist Epiphanius of Salamis. He mentioned it in his long chapter on the Manichaeans (a sect we now know to have used Palmyra as a base for their missions in the time of Zenobia)13 in his monumental Panarion ('MedicineChest') intended to be the antidote for all known heresies: But others pride themselves on the oldest dialect of Syriac, if you please, and the Palmyrene - it and its letters. But there are twenty-two of them,

12 W. Halifax, 'A Relation of a Voyage from Aleppo to Palmyra etc' ibid. no. 217 (Oct. 1698). Fora fascinating account of the decipherment of the Palmyrene script and Ianguage see Peter T. Daniels, 'Shewing of Hard Sentences and Dissolving of Doubts: The First Decipherment', Journal of the American Oriental Society 108 (1988) 419-436. Fora comprehensive bibliography of the earlier publications see M. Lidzbarski, Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik (Weimar 1898) (= HNE) 5-83. 13 Cf. S.N.C. Lieu, Manichaeism in Mesopotamia and the Roman East (Leiden 1994, 1999) 28-31.

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Palmyra - A Caravan City and its lnscriptions

and the book (i.e. Mani's Evangelium) is thus divided into twenty-two sections.14

'The Palmyrene script as we now know it', as Michalowski well explains 'is a variation of the Aramaic character which derive from the Phoenician, the latter having developed some time in the tenth century BC'. 15 Specimens of it were known to westem scholars from the Renaissance onwards through bilingual dedications to Palmyrene gods or funerary inscriptions of deceased Palmyrenes or their spouses found outside Syria, especially in the city of Rome. Two of these had been noted and published by European scholars between 1616 and 1683. 16 The Palmyrene script, which is only found on inscriptions cut in stone or from graffiti scratched in plaster, appears in two forms - what is called cursive and the classic or monumental form. The cursive bears some resemblance to a special form of Estrangela script used by the Manichaeans for writing texts in a variety of languages (Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Turkish, Tocharian B and even Bactrian), and a version of it is also found extensively used in Mandaic (?) or Jewish (?) incantation bowls from Southem Mesopotamia. Halifax was able to tentatively decipher one or two proper names like that of the popular deity Yarhibol, and also noted that the Palmyrenes reckoned their dates by the Seleucid era, from 1 October 312 BC. Thus, in order to arrive at a date corresponding to our system of chronology, from each date deciphered from Palmyrene script the number 311 or 312 must be subtracted. However, the full decipherment of the Palmyrene script was not the achievement of Halifax or Halley; this was only effected after 1753 independently by two scholars - the famous French philologist Jean-Jacques Barthelemy (1716-1795) and the English clergyman scholar John Swinton (1703-1777). The publication in 1753 of the most popular and substantial monograph to date on 14 Epiphanius, Panarion, LXVI, 13, 5, ed. E. Holl, iii (2nd edn: Berlin 1985) 35.5-8. English trans F. Williams, The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, ii, Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies vol. 36 (Leiden: Brill 1994) 233. This information on the Evangelium is extremely accurate as evidenced by exisiting fragments of the work from Turfan in Middle Iranian. Cf. D.N. MacKenzie, 'I, Mani ... ', in H. Preißler and H. Seiwert (eds), Gnosisforschung und Religionsgeschichte, Festschrift für Prof Kurt Rudolph (Marburg 1995) 183-98. 15 Cf. K. Michalowski, Palmyra (London 1970) 9. 16 Cf. Daniels, op.cit. 420-24.

Samuel N.C. Lieu

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Palmyra by the British scholar-travellers Robert Wood (1717?-1771) and James Dawkins (1722-1757)17 at last provided scholars with a sufficiently large corpus of Palmyrene inscriptions in both Greek and Palmyrene. Swinton was able to establish a table of equivalents for the 22 Palmyrene letters with those of known Semitic languages, and claimed to have understood twelve of the thirteen Palmyrene texts included in the book of Wood and Dawkins.18 However, his efforts were completely surpassed by that of Barthelemy who a few years later published in France the füll scientific study of the script - a publication which marks the official start to the successful decipherment of the Palmyrene language.19 Barthelemy had noted along with Wood and Dawkins that a number of the Palmyrene inscriptions are paired with the Greek, and he chose for his 'Rosetta Stone' the bilingual inscription of Septimius Vorodes of AD 262 (CIS 3940 see below) in which the Palmyrene follows the Greek very closely and also contains a significant number of Greek words in transliteration. Once Barthelemy had shown that the language was a form of Aramaic, further study of Palmyrene was relatively straightforward. The language is related in some points to Eastem Aramaic but with some other features closer to Western Aramaic, and many of the terms used to this day in Arabic are encountered in the Palmyrene dialect.20 Modem statistical survey of the personal names also revealed that the bulk of the population was of Arab origin. With the coming of scientific excavation, the number of inscriptions recovered from the site multiplied and at least 1200 honorary, official, votive and sepulchral inscriptions have now been published. This large body of epigraphical material from Palmyra which dates from c. 44 BC to AD 274 constitutes, as a modern scholar remarks, 'a remarkable legacy of an exuberant assemblage of traditions'. 21 The presence of Roman influence on the city was certainly sufficient for 17 The Ruins of Palmyra, otherwise Tedmor, in the Desert (London 1753). 18 'An Explication of all the inscriptions in the Palmyrene language and Character hitherto publish' d. Etc.', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 4812 (1755, 'for the year 1754') 690-756. 19 Reflexions sur l'alphabet et sur la langue dont on se servoit autrefois a Palmyre (Paris 1754). 20 See the detailed study by M. Maraqten, 'The Arabic Words in Palmyrene Inscriptions', Aram Periodical 7 (1995) 89-108. 21 Cf. J. Teixidor, 'Palmyrene Inscriptions', in E. Meyers (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Archaeology in the Near East iv (New York 1997) 244.

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Palmyra - A Caravan City and its Inscriptions

Latin to be used, albeit briefly in dedicatory inscriptions. This is evident on an extremely well preserved trilingual inscription now preserved in the Palmyra Museum dating to AD 52 (Al 126/1126 = PAT 2801 and IMP 24, see below) andin which the Palmyrene and Greek versions are f ar fuller than the Latin.

From Le Comte de Vogüe (1853) to Chabot (1926) As the political situation in the Middle East became more secure after the Napoleonic wars, learned travellers now visited Palmyra more and more often. From the point of view of epigraphical studies the most important of these post-Wood and Dawkins visitors were the noted orientalist Marquis de Vogüe who visited the site in 1853 and the famous Classical epigraphist Waddington in 1861. The latter copied more than one hundred Palmyrene texts which de Vogüe later published. Waddington himself included a sizeable selection of Greek (and a few Latin) inscriptions from Palmyra in his collection of Roman inscriptions from Syria.22 This became the source of Palmyrene inscriptions in widely used collections of Greek inscriptions from the Roman East such as those edited by Dittenberger (OG/S)23 and by Cagnat and Lafaye (/GRR).24 These collections made available the substance of many of the inscriptions to Classical scholars and ancient historians who could read the Greek and Latin versions; and, since many of the texts given in these collections are dedications to important personages, the Classical versions alone often suffice the needs of such scholars. The work of Marquis de Vogüe which contains inscriptions from other parts of Syria,25 though now little cited, remains a landmark in the study of Palmyrene inscriptions in the way in which the bilingual texts were clearly presented and the information it gives on their provenance. Its spacious layout enabled the texts tobe presented for the first time in their original format. Many of the Palmyrene texts, transcribed 22 W.H. Waddington, /nscriptions grecques et latines recueillies en Grece et en Asie Mineure, VI Syrie (Paris 1870). 23 Orientis graeci inscriptiones selectae 2 vols, G. Dittenberger (ed.) (Leipzig: 1903-05) ii, 323-58 (inscr. nos 629-51). 24 Inscriptiones Graecae ad res Romanas pertinentes, R. Cagnat and G. Lafaye (eds) (Paris 1906-1927) iii, 381-405 (inscr. nos 1030-56). 25 Le Comte de Vogüe, Syrie centrale, Inscriptions semitiques (Paris 1868-77) 1-88 (inscr. nos 1-124).

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into Hebrew script - a scholarly practice which was common until the middle of the last century - would later form the basis of the collection in the excellent student handbook on Semitic epigraphy by yet another British clergyman-scholar Rev. G.A. Cooke published in 1903.26 Cooke's collection, boosted by the lengthy Tax (or Tariff) Law in Greek and Palmyrene found in 1882 by the Russian Prince Simon Abamelek Lazarew from a portico on the south side of the senate building, and later moved to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg,27 remains the only substantial representative collection of Palmyrene texts with reliable English translations and (invaluable) grammatical notes. A basic shortcoming with Cooke's work, however, is the lack of photographs of the original and hence no attempt to familiarise the student with the Palmyrene script. Another shortcoming is the lack of a glossary; but the published vocabulary of Aramaic inscriptions by S.A. Cook which covers the texts in de Vogüe's collection (many of which were reproduced with minimal change in Cooke's Text-Book) could be used profitably in conjunction with the Text-Book.28 The German equivalent of the work by Cooke, edited by the famous Semitic scholar M. Lidzbarski which had appeared earlier but was not used by Cooke, does contain a collection of highly usable photographs; and these still remain some of the best available in most European university libraries.29 A more systematic attempt to report on the archaeological provenance of the inscriptions but still using the Hebrew script in the published texts was made by another German scholar Sobernheim. However, his work, especially in the off-print/monograph version, is now extremely rare; although the photographs of the squeezes are still worth consulting if only for their rarity value.30 In the early years of 26 G.A. Cooke, A Text-Book of North Semitic Inscriptions (Oxford 1903) 263340 (inscr. nos 110-47). 27 On the discovery (and translation) of the text see K. Brodersen 'Das Steuergesetz von Palmyra', in Palmyra Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur der syrischen Oasenstadt, Linzer archäologische Forschungen Bd. 16 (Linz 1987) 153-59. 28 S.A. Cook, A Glossary of the Aramaic Inscriptions (Cambridge 1898). See references mentioned below to more comprehensive and more modern lexical aids by Hoftijzer and Jongeling and by Hillers and Cussini. 29 Lidzbarski, op.cit. 457-82 and pls xxxvii-xlii.

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the Twentieth Century, a series of major archaeological survey expeditions were carried out in Syria by Princeton University. Among the participants was the famous scholar in Semitic Studies, Eno Littmann, who would later become Rector of the University of Tübingen. His on-site studies of a number of Palmyrene inscriptions are still well worth consulting especially since the texts are accompanied by English translations;31 but the texts and translations he published of the inscriptions from the Temple of Bel at Palmyra have now been completely supersedect.32 Since 1881, a major international effort to produce a corpus of all known Semitic inscriptions had been underway to emulate earlier efforts to produce authoritative corpuses of inscriptions in Latin and Greek. The editorship of the fascicle on Palmyrene inscriptions within the Aramaic section of the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum was entrusted to a team led by the distinguished Belgian Syriac scholar Jean-Baptiste Chabot. As part of the preparatory research, Chabot published in 1922 what remains the only survey in a Western language of the historical significance of the contents of the full range of Palmyrene inscriptions arranged by topics,33 as well as a series of preliminary editions.34 This valuable work suffers from one unfortunate drawback in that it does not give any of the texts in the original Palmyrene or Greek, and scholars interested in the texts in their original languages had to use the work in conjunction with earlier publications. No wonder the work is now hardly ever consulted or cited. 30 M. Sobernheim, 'Palmyrenische Inschriften', Mitteilungen der Vorderasiatisch-ägyptischen Gesellschaft 1012 (1905) 1-58 (off-print issued by Wolf Peiser Verlag, Berlin). 31 E. Littmann (ed.), Semitic Inscriptions, Part IV of the Publications of the Princeton Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909 (New York 1905) 57-84; see esp. his corrections to readings of texts published by de Vogüe, on p. 84; see also the Greek inscriptions from Palmyra published by W.K. Prentice, Creek and Latin Inscriptions, Part III of the Publications of the Princeton Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904-1905 and 1909 (New York 1908) 278-80 (inscr. nos 352-54) 32 Ibid. 57-66 (ins er. nos 1-4). 33 J.-B. Chabot, Choix d'inscriptions de Palmyre (Paris 1922). 34 These are found in the Repertoire d' epigraphie semitique, Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres Commission du Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum (Paris 1900ff.).

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The Corpus volume35 when it finally appeared in 1926 is, as one would expect from a series intended to be authoritative, a work which should have brought to a triumphal conclusion a century of pioneering scholarly effort on the decipherment of the Palmyrene language. One of its distinctive contributions is the Iaborious efforts made by the printers to reproduce the Palmyrene texts in their original script as well as in Hebrew transcription. Its handling of the corresponding Greek texts is also excellent and, as it was the Iargest collection of Palmyrene texts published to date, in theory it should have put the study of Palmyrene inscriptions on a pedestal. However, political events had taken such a dramatic turn in the Middle East that the work appeared precisely at a time when major new discoveries would render it completely obsolete. For the ancient historian, the work suffers from a number of drawbacks. First, the Palmyrene texts are translated into Latin; and, unless the user-scholar knows Palmyrene, s/he will have to translate from the Latin if wishing to cite the ipsissima verba of the Palmyrene text which is a hazardous undertaking. The lack of a prosopograph ical index necessitates time-consuming searches for historical information. Moreover, the Corpus volume does not include texts for which only the Greek and/or Latin version has survived. For these one would still have to rely on standard Nineteenth Century collections such as CIL, OGIS and IGRR. For generations of English-speaking ancient historians, the Tax-Law of Palmyra, because it has been translated more than once into English, remained the best known of the inscriptions of Palmyra.36 There was little awareness of the extent of the epigraphical finds from Palmyra, and no monograph on Palmyra by an English scholar appeared before the major study by Malcolm Colledge on the art historical aspects of the city published in 1976.37 The readable, well-illustrated and highly popular monograph on the city by Iain Browning which appeared a few years later makes sparing use of inscriptions in the discussion on the history of the city 35 Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Pars secunda. Tomus III: Inscriptiones palmyrenae, Jean-Baptiste Chabot et al. (eds) (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale 1926). 36 Especially through the translation of F.M. Heichelheim, 'Roman Syria', in T. Frank (ed.), An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome IV (Baltimore 1938) 24954. 37 M.A.R. Colledge, The Art of Palmyra (London 1976).

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and mentions them occasionally in relation to the principal buildings. 38

From Ingholt (1925-) and Cantineau (1926-) to Teixidor (1962-) Systematic archaeological research at Palmyra finally began at the dawn of the Twentieth Century with the arrival in 1900 of a special expedition sent by the Russian Archaeological Institute of Constantinople under the scientific direction of the archaeologists Uspenski, Farmakovski and Kokovtsov. By 1902, they were publishing the results of their investigations in the papers of the Institute. More importantly, a German archaeological mission led by Wiegand worked at Palmyra from 1902-17; it carried out numerous trial pits, drew up a general outline of the city and the adjoining necropolises, and made measurements and photographs which were published two decades later in a two-volume work (Berlin 1931). This remains of fundamental importance to archaeologists even today; because it provided some of the most accurate maps and plans of the site, as well as a system of numbering the underground (hypogea) and tower-tombs which is still followed. The end of Ottoman rule over much of the Middle East, and the creation of the Syrian Mandate under French colonial administration, dramatically changed the study of Palmyra. The art and architecture of Palmyra could now be studied in security by westem scholars; and one of the first to do so was the Danish Semitic scholar and archaeologist, Harald Ingholt, who would later become a professor at Yale University. Besides being the scholar to make a systematic classification of Palmyrene sculpture, he also played an important part in the uncovering of underground tombs which brought to light new and hitherto unknown inscriptions (almost all in Palmyrene). Some of these, which deal with cession of burial places, are also unusually lang and provide much interesting linguistic data. His contribution to the section on Palmyrene texts in the series of Aramaic handbooks edited by Frans Rosenthal, to which he provided a 'user-friendly' glossary, still serves as a convenient point of entry to

38 I. Browning, Palmyra (London 1979). See important review of the book by M.A.R. Colledge in Classical Review, NS 30 (1980) 309-10.

Samuel N.C. Lieu

13

the study of Palmyrene inscriptions for students of Semitics.39 Ingholt also tumed his attention to an area of Palmyrene epigraphy which needed compilation as urgently as the monumental inscriptions, viz. the inscribed tessarae. The result is a collection which he undertook with two distinguished scholars, and which throws much new light on the socio-religious life of the city. lt is not likely tobe surpassed for years to come.40 More importantly, the site of Palmyra had become a major focus of attention by French archaeologists, Classical scholars and Orientalists - Seyrig, Cantineau, Amy, Starcky, Schlumberger, Will- to name but a few. Two newly launched periodicals Syria (Damascus, 1920ff.) and Berytus (Beirut, 1934ff.), as well as the older Melanges de l'Universite Saint-Joseph (Beirut, 1906ff.), became the ideal vehicles for the publication of new finds and inscriptions from Palmyra. The discovery of Dura Europas in 1920 - a Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman site on the Syrian Euphrates which yielded immediately a large number of fine paintings as well as Greek, Latin and Palmyrene inscriptions - greatly added to the excitement. Many of the finest Classical and Oriental scholars of that generation such as Franz Cumont, Michael Rostovtzeff, C. Bradford Welles and Clark Hopkins, were academically engaged in the Syrian Orient. The systematic restoration work and excavations by French scholars like Henri Seyrig at Palmyra produced so many new inscriptions that a new major publication was clearly needed to bring together the material published in streams of articles in the three learned journals already mentioned. Instead of producing a supplement to the standard CIS volume, Cantineau, the most senior of the epigraphists working on the site, and his colleagues, decided correctly to inaugurate a new working-collection which would also embrace the work by French scholars on the Palmyrene inscriptions from Dura Europas. Suitably entitled Inventaire des inscriptions de Palmyre, this working series includes inscriptions in Greek, Latin and Palmyrene; as well as graffiti and inscriptions in Arabic. Arranged by location, the Inventaire was certainly the most useful 39 'IV. Palmyrene - Hatran - Nabataean' (compiled by H. Ingholt) in F. Rosenthal (ed.), An Aramaic Handbook, Pt. 111 (Wiesbaden 1967) 40-50 (Texts) Pt 1/2, 42-51 (Glossary). 40 H. Ingholt, H. Seyrig and J. Starcky, Recueil des tesseres de Palmyre (Paris 1955).

14

Palmyra - A Caravan City and its lnscriptions

single tool for the historian of Palmyra which had so far appeared. By the outbreak of the Second World War- an event which would eventually bring about the end of the French Mandate in Syria - the following fascicles edited by J. Cantineau were published: 1. Introduction: Le Temple de ße'el sem1n, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1930) II. Les colonnes honorifiques, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1930) III. La Grande Colonnade, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1930) IV. La Vallee des Tombeaux, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1930) V. La Colonnade transversale, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: lmprimerie Catholique 1931) VI. Le Camp de Diocletien, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1931) VII. Les necropoles nord-ouest et nord, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1931) VIII.A Le Depot des Antiquites -A. Steles funeraires individuelles d'epoque et de langue palmyreniennes, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: lmprimerie Catholique 1932) VIll.B Le Depot des Antiquites - B. Textes de fondation de sepulcres familiaux, C. Inscriptions de statues, de hauts reliefs et de bustes funeraires, D. Textes funeraires latins, E. Textes funeraires grecs chretiens, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1936) IX. Le Sanctuaire de Bel, Publications du Musee National Syrien de Damas N. 1 (Beirut: lmprimerie Catholique 1933) To this list one should add the small but important monograph in similar format on the inscriptions of Dura Europos, which also appeared on the eve of the outbreak of the Second World War edited by R. du Mesnil du Buisson: Jnventaire des inscriptions palmyreniennes de Doura Europas (32 avant J.C. a256 apres J. C.) (Paris: Geuthner1939)

Samuel N.C. Lieu

15

This contains only inscriptions found during the first two seasons of the excavations at Dura under the directorship of Franz Cumont. Once Yale University had taken over the responsibility for publication of the finds, all Semitic inscriptions, including those in Palmyrene script, were published in the Prelirninary Reports of the excavation;41 and later in an important long article by Richard Frye et al. containing material either not published in the Reports or needing revision ahead of the publication of the Final Report on inscriptions. Unfortunately, the latter does not appear tobe forthcoming more than five decades after the end of the Yale excavations.42 However, because the Inventaire was published mainly in the Middle East, its non-availability in most academic libraries in the U.K. and in North America meant most scholars researching on Palmyra in English-speaking countries would only have Cooke's Text-Book and the outdated CIS volume as their main textual source on Palmyrene inscriptions. The publication of the fascicles of the Inventaire was inevitably interrupted by the Second World War; and the study of the Roman Near East in general suffered inordinately from the persecution of scholars of Jewish descent in Germany and in her occupied territories. The fascicle of the Inventaire containing very important texts from the Agora (so vital to our understanding of Palmyra as a 'caravan city') edited by Jean Starcky did not appear until four years after the War and exactly ten years after the last of the pre-War fascicles: X. L'Agora (Damascus: Publications de la Direction Generale des Antiquities 1949) Another project of importance which was begun before the War but not published till after the return of peace was the survey of the North-Western section of the Palmyrene territory under the direction of Schlumberger. The report contains an important dossier of 41 The Excavation at Dura Europas, conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, Preliminary Reports First Season-Ninth Season 10 vols. (New Haven: Yale University Press 1929-46) (Most volumes carry special sections on inscriptions and, with the exception of the inscriptions from the Palmyrene Gate, all such are consecutively numbered throughout the volumes). 42 R.N. Frye, J. Gilliam, H. Ingholt and C.B. Welles, 'Inscriptions from Dura Europos', Yale Classical Studies 14 (1955) 127-201.

16

Palmyra - A Caravan City and its Inscriptions

hitherto unpublished inscriptions edited by Ingholt and the Abbe Jean Starcky.43 Scholars of Palmyra had to wait for almost two decades before a new generation of Palmyrene scholars headed by Javier Teixidor could provide the leamed world with the eleventh and the apparently final twelfth fascicle of the Inventaire: XI. J. Teixidor, J. (ed.) Inventaire des inscriptions de Palmyre: I. Autels, 2. Textes funeraires, III. Dedicaces diverses, IV. Textes du Mur T, Institut fran~ais d'archeologie de Beyrouth (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique 1965) XII. A. Bounni and J. Teixidor (edd.) Inventaire des inscriptions de Palmyre (Damascus: Publications de la Direction Generale des Antiquites et Musees de la Republique Arabe Syrienne 1975) These two later fascicles are not particularised to specific sections or buildings of the city as were the earlier fascicles. Neither fascicle XI nor XII contains the long-awaited revised edition of the Tax-Law of Palmyra except for a few minor improved readings.44 However, more were provided by Teixidor in a thorough revision to the Palmyrene version of the CIS 3913 text in a hard to obtain learned journal published in his own native Spain.45 Had the Inventaire series been allowed to be continued and completed under its original plan, the historian would have a comprehensive corpus replacing CIS. The inclusion of inscriptions in Greek and Latin without Palmyrene parallels is of particular benefit as the standard repertoire of Greek inscriptions Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (Berlin and Alphen aan den Rijn 1923ff.) - temporarily stopped including newly discovered inscriptions from Syria after 1934 so as not to duplicate the tasks of 43 D. Schlumberger, La Palmyrene du nord-ouest (Paris: Geuthner 1951) 14377.

44 Inventaire X.143 87. 45 J. Teixidor, 'Le Tarif de Palmyre:

l. Un commentaire de Ja version palmyrenienne', Aula Orientalis - Revisita de estudios del Pr6ximo Griente Antiguo 1 (1983) 235-52. See now the excellent translation of the Greek version in J.F. Matthews, 'The Tax Law of Palmyra: Evidence for Economic History in a City of the Roman East', Journal of Roman History 74 (1984) 157-80.

Samuel N.C. Lieu

17

the Inventaire and of the Preliminary Reports from Dura. Although the Inventaire contains photographs of the inscriptions, these are often both small and selective; and certainly completely inadequate as a resource for independent study by scholars who could not visit the site or the Palmyra Museum established by the French team in modern Tadmor. Teixidor also began in 1964 a series of bulletins on newly discovered or recently published Semitic inscriptions in the joumal Syria which is also published separately.46 In view of the fact that articles on the subject are scattered in a large number of joumals and Festschriften, these bulletins readily proved themselves indispensable for scholars who did not have to time to scan new publications regularly to keep abreast of the subject. The same author also published in 1979 a seminal work in English on the religions of Palmyra which contains texts and translations of a !arge number of Palmyrene inscriptions in both Palmyrene and Greek.47 This is probably the largest collection of Palmyrene inscriptions in English translation since the now very dated Text-Book of Cooke (v. supra). Two contemporary works in English on Palmyra from the 1970's worth mentioning are Jürgen Stark's published dissertation on personal names in Palmyrene inscriptions48 and Malcolm Colledge's still standard work on the art of Palmyra (v. supra). Stark's book, though not a full prosopography, could be used as an index nominum to both CIS and the Inventaire; and as such fills a vital gap in our small repertoire of reference works on Palmyra. One work, though not in English, but of primary importance to the study of the contents of religious inscriptions from Palmyra and from other Semitic cities with major cults like Hatra and Tyre in the Roman period is that of the eminent Polish scholar of Semitic studies, Josef Milik.49 At 487 pages, it is by far the langest study on the subject in any language to date and contains revised editions of many published epigraphical texts. His handling of the Greek texts is often as 46 J. Teixidor, Bulletin d'epigraphie semitique (1964-1980), Institut Franc;ais d' Archeologie du Proche-Orient (Paris 1986) 47 J. Teixidor, The Pantheon of Palmyra, Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans !'Empire romain 79 (Leiden 1979) 48 Personal Names in Palmyrene Inscriptions (Oxford 1971). 49 J.T. Milik, Dedicaces faites par des dieux ( Palmyra, Hatra, Tyr et des thiases semitiques a l 'epoque romaine (Paris 1972).

18

Palmyra - A Caravan City and its Inscriptions

masterly as that of the Palmyrene. For instance, his reconstituted version of the Greek equivalent of the bilingual text from the Temple of Bel with a possible dedication formula of the 'usurper' Pescennius Niger rather than Septimius Severus (lnv. 10 26, p. 38) certainly deserves serious consideration by Graeco-Roman epigraphists.50

Gawlikowski (1970-), Hillers-Cussini (1996) and beyond After the final withdrawal of French armed forces from Syria in 1946, excavation work begun by the French could not be continued so easily by a former colonial power. The first major excavation work after the War was at the temple of Baal Sharnin by a tearn from neutral Switzerland under the direction of Collart. The results of their work is enshrined by a series of handsomely produced reports of which four volumes have so far appeared. The third volume devoted entirely to the inscriptions and edited by Christiane Dunant51 sets an immensely high standard both in scholarship and in the quality of production. The volume replaces completely the relevant fascicle in the Inventaire. lt is unfortunate that the equally monumental report on the Temple of Bel by Seyrig and Amy which appeared finally in 197552 did not contain a revised edition of the inscriptions from this iconic temple published in Inventaire IX. The advent of the Cold War saw the Republic of Syria coming under the political influence of the Eastem Bloc, and well-trained scholars from Poland now worked alongside Syrian scholars of the highest academic calibre like Adnan Bounni and Khaled Al As'ad. Since 1957, excavation by Polish scholars first under Michal Kazirnierz Michalowski and then Michal Gawlikowski have continued uninterrupted. As with the excavations under the French, each fresh campaign yields large number of new inscriptions, especially in key sections of the city like the Camp of Diocletian and the Temple of Allat. The Polish team published their findings regularly in French 50 lbid. 234. 51 C. Dunant (ed.), La sanctuaire de Baalshamin

a Palmyre. Val. III: Les inscriptions (Bibliotheca Helvetica Romana, Romel97 l). Of the six projected volumes in the series La sanctuaire de Baalshamin a Palmyre, vols. 1-3, 5 and 6 (1969-1975) have so far appeared. 52 H. Seyrig, R. Amy and E. Will, Le Temple de Bel a Palmyre 2 vols (Paris 1975).

Samuel N.C. Lieu

19

and in Polish in their two monograph series devoted to the study of Palmyra:

Palmyre: Fouilles Polonaises 1959 (Warsaw: Pan;stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe 1960-) Studia Palmyreriskie, zeszyt I- (Warsaw: Wydawanictwa Uniwersytetu 1966-) Only a few research libraries in the English-speaking world had exchange-agreements with countries behind the then 'Iron Curtain' over academic publications. As a result, like the Inventaire, both these Polish series are rarities in British and North American research libraries; and they could not be found even in some of the most prestigious centres of learning in the then 'Free World'. Occasionally, the discovery of inscriptions of major importance to the study of history of Palmyra did come to the attention of Roman historians. The best known examples being the more complete version of a text from the Temple of Bel originally published in 1933 (lnv. 9 40) which indicates that the priests of Bel might have given Aurelian help in the final siege of the city in 273/4 (= PAT 2812 see below);53 and a bilingual from the Great Colonnade which completely alters existing suppositions on the family history and career of Odaenathus (= PAT 2815, see below).54 Two very important collections of newly discovered inscriptions are revised texts connected with the Polish restoration work on the temples55 and on epigraphical work at the Efqa Spring and various tombs,56 both brilliantly edited by Gawlikowski. These add to the long list of hardto-find items, and are rarely consulted by English-speaking scholars. The gargantuan effort now required to produce a corpus based on the various existing collections of Palmyrene inscriptions was 53 M. Gawlikowski, 'lnscriptions de Palmyre', Syria 48 (1971) 420. 54 !dem, 'Les princes de Palmyre', Syria (1985) 257. On the importance of this inscription see M. Dodgeon and S.N.C. Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars, A.D. 226-363 (London 1991) 369 and U. Hartmann, Das palmyrenische Teilreich (Oriens et Occidens 2, Studien zu antiken Kulturkontakten und ihrem Nachleben Bd. 2, Stuttgart 2001) 467-69. 55 M. Gawlikowski, Palmyre VI. Le temple palmyrenien. Etude d'epigraphie et de topographie historique (Warsaw 1973) esp. 56-65, 68-80 and 90-100. 56 !dem, Recueil d'insciptions palmyreniennes provenant de fouilles syriennes et polonaises recentes a Palmyre (Paris 1974).

20

Palmyra - A Caravan City and its lnscriptions

achieved surprisingly by an international project which is not solely devoted to Palmyra. lt was brought about by the need to produce a linguistic database for The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon edited inter alias by J. Fitzmyer and D. Hillers. The two scholars who took on the task of compiling the database from the Palmyrene material, the late Professor Delbert Hillers and Professor Eleonora Cussini, came up with an ingenious system of compilation which solves many of the problems caused by duplicating publications. The editors used for their comprehensive compilation the material from CIS as the core of their collection; and then add to it inscriptions and inscribed tesserae published for the first time in the Inventaire and the various major collections like PNO, BS III, RTP, RSP etc. arranged alphabetically according to a readily comprehensible set of abbreviations and abridged titles. Periodical publications, collected studies, monographs, Festshriften and even museum- and salescatalogues were also methodically scanned for newly published texts or revisions. The result is the appearance in one convenient volume57 in 1996 of a collection of 2832 Palmyrene inscribed texts uniformly transcribed into Roman letters with diacriticals and fumished with a full glossary. The latter, though not a complete concordance, certainly covers the Palmyrene material more thoroughly than the dictionary of Hoftijzer and Jongeling which came out the year before.58 The sheer energy and thoroughness of the editors for PAT deserve the warmest congratulation. As scholars in Australia, we are particularly impressed that the one known Palmyrene inscription on our own soil, found on a bust in the Australian War Memorial (i.e. Museum) in Canberra (PAT 0010, given in next chapter), did not escape their exhaustive search. A series of concordances to major collections like the Inventaire makes it easy for the new work to be used alongside older collections. A good map, an exhaustive bibliography, a table giving names of Semitic months and their Greek equivalents, an index of names (not of persons) and an index of English meanings to the Aramaic glossary, all contribute to the overall usefulness of the book to scholars of Palmyrene history.

57 D.R. Hillers and E. Cussini (eds) Palmyrene Aramaic Texts (Baltimore 1996) (hereafter PAT). 58 J. Hoftijzer and K. Jongeling, Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions 2 vols (Leiden 1995).

Samuel N.C. Lieu

21

Reference to the work immediately became standard for citations of Palmyrene texts.59 For the historian of Palmyra in the Roman and Byzantine periods, as distinct from the scholar of Palmyrene Aramaic, PAT, though a massive improvement on CIS, suffers from the same drawback in that it is not a collection of all inscriptions from Palmyra from the preIslamic period. One hopes of course that the authoritative series Inscriptions grecques et latins de la Syrie (Paris, 1929ff.) (IGLS) will one day produce its long awaited volume(s) on Palmyra.60 Till then the only substantial collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions from Palmyra without Palmyrene parallels will remain the incomplete and out-of-date Inventaire. Even if an IGLS volume on Palmyra finally appears, it may not include Palmyrene parallels; thus reducing its usefulness as a tool for studying the bi-culturalism and bilingualism particular to Palmyrene culture. While the handling of the Palmyrene texts in PAT is uniformly careful, though there are occasional lapses but not ones which will cause problems to specialists,61 the same could not be said of the Greek (and occasionally Latin) parallel texts. The decision to use CIS texts as the core means that the Greek texts produced from PAT 0247-0979 have often been outdated by later editions in the Inventaire.6 2 The way in which the Greek texts are presented is also inconsistent as it depends on the style in which they were presented in their original

59 See e.g. L. Dirven, The Palmyrenes of Dura Europos, A Study of Religious lnteraction in Roman Syria, Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 138 (Leiden 1999) 199-245, T. Kaizer, 'De dea Syria et aliis diis deabusque (Part l)' Orientalia Lovaniensia Periodica 28 (1997) 147-66 (mainly on Palmyra) and '(Part 2)' (mainly on Hatra) 29 (1998) 33-62 and D. Piacentini, 'Palmyra's springs in the epigraphic sources', Aram Periodical 13/14 (2001-2002) 525-34. 60 Such a volume is, we believe, currently being prepared by J.-B. Yon. See also n. 76 (infra). See the useful summary of published Palmyrene inscriptions in Greek and Latin by W. van Rengen, 'L'epigraphie grecque et latine de Syrie. Bilan d'un quart de siecle de recherches epigraphiques' in H. Temporini et al. (eds) Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt II.8 (Berlin 1977) 46-8. 61 E.g. lines 146 and 147 of the Palmyrene text of the famous Tax-Law (= PAT 0259) have inadvertently been repeated. 62 A very good example is PAT 0308 = C3962. The edition of the Latin in lnv. 10 17 is vastly superior. The Greek text for PAT 0295 = C3049 in Inv. 3 29 is also more accurate.

22

Palmyra - A Caravan City and its lnscriptions

publications. Thus a few Greek texts are in solid upper-case63 - a system favoured by some Greek epigraphists because it is more exact - while the majority are in the more normal mixture of upper and lower cases as found in printed Greek texts. Personal names of Palmyrene origin in earlier published texts are accented while the same names in later published texts are not. Of greatest concem however is the unsettling number of misprints and wrong accentuations in the Greek texts which gives the impression that the editors did not have the collaboration of a Greek scholar in the final stages of proof-reading.64 For the historian searching for one of the oldest known inscriptions from Palmyra (PAT 1524 = Inv. 9 100) s/he will find the text has inadvertently been misdated to C.E. 44 when it is clear from the date given in the inscription that it was inscribed in October, 44 BC! Needless to say, no collection of Palmyrene texts could be comprehensive given (a) the large number of inscribed Palmyrene sculpture in museums outside the Republic of Syria and (b) continuing discoveries. The editors have included the inscriptions from lesser known collections of Palmyrene sculptures such as those in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and in the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, but have left out the interesting small collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. While the unpublished Palmyrene inscriptions from the Louvre found their way into PAT through its published catalogue,65 those in the catalogue of the equally important collection in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen did not. 66 Between 1990 and 1992 J apanese scholars from the Research Centre for 'Silk Roadology' (sie) of the Prefecture of Nara in Japan using state-of-the-art ground-probing radar 63 See e.g. PAT 2647. 64 E.g. PAT 0197 l. 9 for o[ .•....••• ] [................... ] [. ........ Jcr[. ..... ] [. ........ JAA.11i;[ ... ]

[Expo]rt[ed, 7 denarii] [For a load of salted fish imported by cam]el, [he will exact 10 denarii]. [Exp ]or[ted, he will exact ? denarii]. {Lines 52-53 are too fragmentary for translation.}

Greg Fox, Sam Lieu and Norman Ricklefs 68. [Kalµr]A.ou w[„„.]KYJS [„„„] 69. [8Jpeµµaws [.Jm[„.]Evou[ „„ l 70. [„„]()[„„ „ „.]8[.„.J 71. [„]VKaö[„ 't']E8DµEVYJ[„. „ .] 72. 'O al:nos olriµJocnwvris eKacr[wul µrilvosl nap' EK[cicno]u 't'ffi[v 't'O] EAatov Ka't'a ... 74. n{.]ov[.„E]lV [.„„] 75. 'O au't[os ölriµlocnwvrisJ npcil~El „ „ .]Att 76. [.. •ffiv hmplmv öcrm [„ „ „ ... l 77. [..A.aµßcilvoucnv TI{„„„„„„] 78. [„.„.alcrcrcipia oK•m L„„.Jmri 79. [„.acrlcrcipia E~ E:v [e]Kacr't[lJ] acrcr c;'

?3.

41

camel-load (?) [..... „ ..... ] [of an a]nimal (?) [„„„„.] [„.] (s)acrificed[„.] The said tax-collector [will exact] each month from each of the [„.] olive-oil according [„.] [sell]ing (?)

The said t[ax collector] will ex[act from prostitut]es who receive one denarius or more, from each woman, [1 denarius]. From those who receive eight asses [he will exact] 8 asses. From those who receive six asses, from each woman, 6 asses. 80. ['0 au•os öriµJocrwSvris The same tax collector wi 11 exact np[cil;ltt E:pyacr't'l']ptwv from workshops, [„„„ „„.] 81. [„] naV"C01t(!)N Et]wv O"KU't'l KWV general stores, leather [-workers' 82. [„. „ .Js EK cruvriedas shops „ „„ „ „„] according to eKcicrwu µrivos custom, from each workshop per 83. Ka\ E:pyacr't'l']ptou eKcicrwu, X month, 1 denarius.

a' 84. rrapa •ffiv öepµam EicrKoµis6v't[wv il 1t(l)-J 85. A.ounwv, eKcicrwu oepµmos acrcrci[pia ß'l 86. 'Oµo1ws iµmwnffiA.m µE•aßoA.m 1t(l)/Jouv-l 87. "CES EV 't'lJ 7r0AEl 't'W Ol']µocnmvl] 't'O tKavov y[w]fo[Sw].13

88. Xpr]crcos nriymv ß' eKcicrwu E"COUS X (!), 89.'0 aD't'OS npcil1;1Et y6µou 7tUplKOD, OlVlKOD, axu90. pwv Ka\ wwuwu yevous, EKcicrwu y6µou 91. Kaµl']AlKOD Ka8' ooov fKcXO"'t'l']V X ci 92. Kaµr]A.ou ös KEvos ctcraxel] npci~n X a' 93. Ka8CÜoptl.J 172. ['ESJaycoyfi [. ..... h X c;' wu öl:: [. ....... ~] 8' 173. a/;touvwpqn', 30 wl[mpq]n', 32 wlm[pqn'], 33, 67 wlmmpqn' (dittography) Trf:l43 mprnsy (385a) guardian, foster-mother, guardian mprnsyt' Ber '38,124:5 m~bh (385b) idol, statue msbt BS III 45:5 mqbrh (385b) tomb mqbrn Ber '38,95:9 (?) mqlw (386a) burnt offering wmqlwt Syr. '31.138:4 wmq[lwt] wmqlwt' C3927:3 w[m]qlwt' mqmw (386a) place, stead Jmqmw C3956:4 mr' (386a) master, Jord mm BS III 45:7, C3938:3, C3945:2, C3959:3 [mr]n

Greg Fox and Sam Lieu lmrhwn C3946:4 mr' 'Im' Lord of the World, Lord of Eternity C3912:1, C3986:1 mr'gr (386a) contractor (?), paymaster (?) mr'gr' C4218:2 mrb' (386b) (meaning and an_alysis uncertain) 25% tax rate lmrb" mrb" to take the 25% tax rate Ded. 32:4 mrh (386b) lady, sovereign lmrthwn C3947:4 mrzlJ (386b) symposium (religious association for eating, cf. Gr. Siacror;) bny mrzfJ' members of the symposium [bny m]rzl)' C3980:2 brbnwt mrzl)wt C3970: 1 msiJ (387a) oil; olive tree (?) Trf:28 ms!)' Trf:l3, 15 [ms!)]', 17 [m]sl)', 19 [m]SI)', 21, 23 ms[!)'], 26 ms[!)'], 46, 98, C3959:3 msk (387a) skin, hide Trf:ll m[sk], 56, 67 lmsk' Trf:56 msry (387b) camp wbmsryt' C3973:3 lmsryth C3959:5 [lms]ryth mtqnn (387b) governor; restorer, Lat. restitutor wmtqnn' C3946:2 nbty (388a) Nabataean nbty' C3973:2 nhwryt (388a) splendidly DM. 13.4 nhw[ryt] wnhwryt lnv. 10 44:7 nhyr (388a) illustrious nhyr' C3944:2, C3945:2, C3971:2 [nhy ]r', Inv. 10 115:2 [nhyr'], Syr. '85.257:1 nhyrt' C3947:1, C3971:5

141

nwyt (388b) corresponding to (?), next to (?),just as (?) Ded. 36:4, MUSJ '62.106:8 nwn (388b) fish nwny' Trf:34 n[wny]' nwr (388b) amount (?) nwr C3948:3 nbS (388b) bronze nl)s' Trf: 128, 129 [nl)]s', C3952:4, JSS S4.36:1 nbt (389a) go down C3933:4 nl)ttlnv. 10 111 :3 nbt (389a) garment nl)ty' Trf:57 nysn (389b) (month of) Nisan (i.e. April) Ber '38,124:9, Trf(l):l, C3930:5, C3931:5, C3933:5, C3938:5, C3945:5, C3948:5, C3970:2, C3999:3, lnv. 10 38R:2, RSP 127:5, Syr. '50.137:1, '85.257: 1 bnysn Inv. 9 1:6 nmws (389b) law (OUCTKOU Ded. 36.2 Ma.v0a.ßc.o.A.(E)'iot (tribe of the) Manthabölians (Aram. bny mtbwl) (cf. SEG vii, 140 Ma88aßwAim) [Mav8aßw]AEiwv C3924.[6] Mavvoc; Mannos McivlvouSyr. '37, 372.11112 Md.~tµoc; (tA.on